Vwmofo

Did yours leave the UK yet? Mine's still sitting there. GRRRR.

Marcos.J

iTrader: (239)

mine is out for delivery

Hugh Jazz

iTrader: (4)

Mine is on its way to Hawaii then on to Sydney.

abailey21

iTrader: (37)

Think it's the same since the MI3 which was closer to 2007

h2e

Well I bought a carbon version right when the shop opened their books, and built it last night. Here's my desk verdict.
+ great tips in the manual. One better reads them carefully
+ great assembly order. I kept my fingers clean for quite long
+ great fit and finish. I didn't remember Schumacher has all plastic parts removed from the parts tree already and flashing removed
+ doweled parts fit together with no play and the drivetrain is super free.
+ Very little play when new. replaceable balljoints
+ Seems to be a robust design. All carbon parts look designed with thought.
+ great to work on (I tested drivetrain cleaning) once built, also great idea with press in nuts.
+ seems to have a good torsional stiffness range with the options provided. Great simplicity with bushing on topdeck.
+ suspension parts are very stiff, so no wheel misalignment under load.
+ beautiful shocks and diff/ spool but (-) heavy diff.
+ great lower shockmount, easy to use pliers for the ballhead.

- Battery holder design doesn't allow for shimming the parts, if you need more protection.
- large distance battery to motor (18.5mm per kit)
- steel hardware is robust, but makes for high unsprung mass (36-38g rear-front). E.g. the rear driveshafts are Alu with many other brands.
- rear toe links inner ballheads are only accessible with ball hex driver. As they are loctited, that might strip the hex
- long and wide chassis (compared to traditional Tamiya designs, there is more potential for chassis dragging). Even the Mi5 had a more compact chassis.
- diff/pulley fences are a pain to mount
- turnbuckle war as with an awesomatix. I had to squeeze almost all of them as they were overly tight. Using pliers also scratches the beautiful black parts.
- wheel hex and ballcup O rings (i.e. on the lower arms) difficult to remove.

None of the negative points are really bad. I am very happy with the build and look forward to an eventual test drive (still some time in the future).

The Teacher

iTrader: (62)

h2e, your list of negatives seem on par with any car. Question, did you weight the rear diff? If so did you do any comparisons to other alloy diffs...i.e Mugen diff, A800 diff?

h2e

Very much true. No negative point is really bad, just minor things.
With the diff one has to be fair and acknowledge that it's 40T. It weighs 25.1g where kentech measured 20.2g for the MTC2…

Mi8 diff weight w/bearings
The bearings are 3.7g alone...

Dan

iTrader: (75)

Steel or aluminum diff outdrives?

dlruk

Have you accidentally cut a bit of the diff outer with pliers? Belt could catch on that?

h2e

yes, replacement parts on the way.
Diff outdrives as in the kit. Aluminium, as it seems.

The Teacher

iTrader: (62)

So I measured the MTC2 diff and it came out to 25g. Not too bad, will just have to make up the difference somewhere else. Maybe with the Ti axles U7855, lighter bearings or maybe break out the dremel

Dan

iTrader: (75)

I prefer drilling speed holes in the diff case.

bertrandsv87

iTrader: (2)

Pretty heavy, but what oil was in it ???
Gear diffs: 25g mi8, 21g tc6, 26g specR , 25g mtc2, 29g to 31g tamiya tb05/shaftdrive,etc,......Who has the lightest gear diff ??? Anybody with a 15g gear diff ? I know from experience that a 10g difference will affect laptimes...Chime in....

ErikJan

Interesting discussion about a 2 gram diff weight difference....NOT.
We like to know how this Mi8 goes together and even more important how it performs in the hands of an average driver.

h2e

It goes together smooth as silk - see my desk verdict above. The 25g diff weight is ok considering it's the only 40T diff out there, and alu.